


Moth Billy Part I: Now the Night

by dead-night-harringrove (deliriousLycan)



Series: Moth Billy [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-12
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2019-07-11 07:32:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15967661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deliriousLycan/pseuds/dead-night-harringrove
Summary: PROMPT: Steve discovering that Billy is part moth and Billy is afraid that Steve will be fearful or disgusted of him, but Steve is fascinated and thinks that’s it’s cool. He also really loves his wings.





	Moth Billy Part I: Now the Night

Billy wasn’t always like this. It’s been a slow going process since he’d been a child, starting with the intensive shedding of soft, dust-like scales that smeared into his clothing all the time. 

It comes from his mother’s side-- at least, that’s what his father tells him. Neil tells Billy all the time about how his mother had seduced him with her demon ways, and led him astray from his good Catholic faith.

Neil forces Billy to try and shave off the abnormal amounts of, for lack of a better word, fuzz. He does so obediently, of course, because he doesn’t want to face his father’s rage more than he already has to. Neil also forces Billy to bind his wings, which is painful. He hates having them restricted. It makes him feel trapped, imprisoned. 

He also has very thin, gold-furred antennae that grew out somewhere just above his temple. He pulls them back into a hair tie beneath the rest of his curls. It always gives him a throbbing headache, but he knows he can’t let anyone know he’s not  _ human.  _

Which is why tonight, after Neil slammed him against a shelf so hard he  _ heard  _ the crack of his wings against it, he’s trying to scramble away from none other than Steve Harrington. The rich boy he’d almost  _ killed _ . Would have, if he hadn’t been shot full of drugs and nearly neutered. Yes, that same boy is now walking towards him, in a clearing up the train tracks, with a purpose, eyes full of caution and shock. 

See, Billy’s reprieve comes when he hides away in this clearing. Here he can stretch his wings and just _be._ He’s never seen anyone here before, and evidently that made him careless, because tonight Steve caught him trying to reach around his back for his left wing, which he _couldn’t fucking move!_

Now Steve advances, and while Billy would normally spew threats and  _ act  _ on them, he sees that damn bat in his hands and knows it’s a lost cause. Billy’s in too much pain to focus. Each time he moves, his wing sends white hot agony through his body. He’s barely able to realize Steve is talking to him, until he calms down and Steve’s voice grounds him. 

“Hey, you’re okay, Hargrove, Billy, listen to me, alright..?”

Somewhere during his mad dash to safety, Billy had landed on his rear. Presently he stills himself as Steve kneels before him, holding his hands up in surrender, the bat no longer gripped menacingly in his palm. 

“Are you…what happened?” Steve asks. “Are you, uh, are you an experiment, too?”

Billy frowns.  _ Experiment? Too? _ He shakes his head, because he’s many things, but a lab rat is not one of them. Steve frowns, and nods nonetheless. Billy tries to pull his wings back to hide them as Steve looks him up and down, and feels himself blushing under the scrutiny of it. Steve only smiles softly when he notices, and Billy almost misses it. 

“May I see it? Your…your wing… It looked fucked up. How do you even have wings? Are you a  _ fairy!?” _

The sudden sharp excitement in his voice takes Billy off guard, and he blinks stupidly at Harrington. He’s been called a fairy before, of course, but never in this context, and the sheer accuracy _ and _ stupidity in the question cause him to giggle uncontrollably.

“I’m, I, I have never been asked that like  _ that.  _ That’s good. That’s rich, I’m--!” He pauses to catch his breath, laughing through each word he says. Steve only looks at him curiously, and he pulls himself together long enough to look down at the ground and turn around. He feels watched, and gently stretches out his good wing to it’s full size. It’s a greyish blue, with white rings within it. Billy hears the gentle gasp Steve lets out, then feels the brush of fingers only briefly before he pulls back sharply. 

“Oh, uh, sorry…Is it alright if I..? This one doesn’t look  _ broken,  _ just dislocated… It’s probably going to hurt if I pop it back in place,” Steve says in a rush, and Billy takes a deep breath. 

“Do what you have to. Pop it back into place. I  _ can’t  _ go to the doctor, not with these.  _ Fuck,”  _ he swears, bracing himself for the pain.

Before Steve’s hands touch the injured wing, Steve makes a thoughtful sound. Billy lets out a whimper as the wing is jostled, followed by a sharp cry when Steve pops it back into position. He instinctively jerks at it, curling his wings around himself to try and hide inside them. Steve curses, and then he’s in front of Billy pushing the wings aside gently so he can see Billy’s face. 

“Are you okay?” he asks, genuine concern in his voice. Billy is lost. Steve can see the confusion, the anger, but mostly the  _ fear  _ on his usual tormentor’s face. 

Steve realizes then that he doesn’t like how Billy looks when he’s afraid. He doesn’t like the idea of Billy being afraid of  _ him.  _ It takes him a second to realize Billy is asking him something, and he focuses back in on the boy in front of him. 

“Why did you help me?” Billy repeats.

Steve gives him a wry grin. “If I had a grudge for  _ everything  _ that’s almost killed me, I’d be constantly miserable. It’s easier to let things go and forget about them, for me. Besides, you were… you’re scared. I didn’t want you to think I’d use this against you somehow,” he says, and Billy wonders how Steve Harrington has managed to exist in the same timeline as him. 

“Can I see them? I know the one is probably sore, but…” Steve trails off, and Billy nods hesitantly as he breathes in deeply. Stretching them out to their full spread, they cast giant shadows across the ground in the dull glow of the sunset. 

Steve gasps as he looks over them, and Billy blushes slightly before reaching beneath his curls and pulling at the hair tie beneath them. Hissing as it sends sharp jabs of pain through his skull, he immediately sighs in relief once he pulls it loose. His antennae pop back up into place, and his migraine eases with the full use of his senses. They sweep back in a curve over his head, and Steve blinks owlishly as he looks over him. 

“Your wings are  _ beautiful _ . Also doesn’t that hurt? Keeping them tied down like that?” he asks after a moment of gawking, and Billy nods. 

“Oh, uh, thanks… And yeah, it hurts like a bitch, but I’ve got to do it for obvious reasons. I’d kill for at least one day where I didn’t have to bind them, and my wings,” Billy says longingly.

Steve takes pause, then responds. “Come over to my house this weekend. My parents won’t be home, they’re out for work this week and the next. We can call truce and start fresh. Maybe we could even be friends! I mean, I, if  _ you  _ want to…”

This time it’s Steve that blushes, and Billy looks at him for a moment before a soft smile draws the corners of his lips up. Immediately, an almost shocked giggle follows, and Billy really can’t believe the sound just came out of his own mouth.

Is this seriously the path his evening has taken? Billy never would have dreamed the entire situation could have ever been a reality, and yet it’s happening. Is Steve Harrington, someone who should by all means hate him entirely, really giving him a second chance? He’s going to have to work his ass off to prove himself worthy enough-- starting with the kids, probably.

“I’ll be there Friday night at seven,” he says, grinning brightly. Steve smiles back with a nod, and holds out a hand to help Billy back up on his feet. Harrington picks his bat back up and slings it over his shoulder with practiced ease, eyes twinkling with a mysterious spark as he looks over at Billy. 

“I wouldn’t recommend staying out too far past nightfall. I’ve seen far stranger things than you in these woods,” he says. His tone is light, but his words carry a weight that leaves Billy feeling breathless. Before Steve can leave, Billy calls out a thanks to him. 

He just laughs and waves as he walks off into the edge of the woods, disappearing with the sun.


End file.
